China Eastern Airlines to resume Shanghai-Auckland flights

China Eastern Airlines, one of the country's leading carriers, is scheduled to re-launch direct flights between Shanghai and Auckland, New Zealand on Sept. 26.

The new route will make four round-trip flights each week this year, the carrier said.

From the beginning of 2016, the service will rise to seven flights per week, it said.

The move trod on the heels of Air China's announcement on Tuesday to begin running direct flights between Beijing and New Zealand's Auckland on Dec. 10 of this year.

The route, Air China's first to New Zealand, will be operated jointly by Air New Zealand and Air China under an agreement signed in November 2014. An Airbus A330-200 will leave the Chinese capital city for Auckland daily and return to Beijing on the next day.

Currently, Air New Zealand is the only carrier providing a scheduled service between Shanghai and Auckland. Guangzhou-based China Southern Airlines, the country's largest airline by fleet size, operates direct flights between Guangzhou and Auckland.

China is New Zealand's second-largest tourist market after Australia.